Anritsu touts MEMS, monitoring

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, March 12, 2004

Anritsu Company introduces the MW9077A/A1 OTDR modules with a uniquely small form factor featuring a wide dynamic range and short dead zone. The compact design of the OTDR modules and their high performance make them well-suited for integrating into systems for conducting maintenance on optical communications lines, as well as for detecting intrusions, flooding, or other disasters that can have an adverse affect on network performance.

Two modules are available in the series--the MW9077A for 1310 nm wavelength applications and the MW9077A1 for 1550 nm wavelength. The MW9077A/A1 achieve a dynamic range of 41 dB (at 25[degrees] C) and 39 dB (at 55[degrees] C), with strong performance over the full -5[degrees] C to 55[degrees] C range. The modules have short dead zones of 2 m (typical) for Fresnel reflection and 20 m for backscattered light, plus a minimum sampling resolution of 5 cm.

The MW9077A/A1 can average multiple measurements to obtain a loss profile with little noise, as well as sweep at approximately one-second intervals. This flexibility allows the OTDR modules to identify problems quickly in an optical network or to serve as a monitoring tool that tracks fiber quality changes to avoid network failures. Important MW9077A/A1 measurement capabilities include total fiber loss, interval loss between connectors, optical fiber length, splice loss, and connector loss. In addition, reflection (return loss) can be measured.

With its unusually small size of less than 40 cu. in. (200X130X25 mm), the MW9077A/A1 can easily be configured into fiber monitoring systems. Anritsu has designed the MW9077A/A1 with a 10M/100M Ethernet interface for achieving the fast data transfers that are needed in demanding real-time applications. An RS-232C interface is also provided. Both interfaces enable external control for setting all parameters and performing all measurements.